Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is annuity straight talk. Since 2008, your host, Brian Anderson, has helped clients nationwide navigate the complex market for annuities. With Brian's assistance, hundreds of clients have achieved a profitable and secure retirement. You I would know because Brian has answered many of my questions concerning annuities and retirement planning so that you can benefit as well. Let's get started. Here's Brian.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Hello and welcome everyone to the Annuity Straight Talk podcast. Episode Number My name is Brian Anderson, founder and creator of AnnuityStrayTalk.com, encouraging you all to like, subscribe or comment on YouTube or any of your favorite podcast platforms. Share it with your friends. A lot of people say that it should be widespread, get a lot of good feedback, some not so good. Makes me better at what I do. I do not mind it. Go ahead and say what you will. Cast stones. Please. I can take it. And I probably got something coming back at you when you do. So that's not a threat, it's just a challenge. Anyone who wants to do that. This week we're going to be talking about a topic that I probably have to address from time to time. It's people who don't like annuities, talking about opinions, where they come from, all that stuff. So it's not saying that annuities are always good, but they're not always bad. And most of the time it's not that they're bad, it's just that they were put in the wrong spot by the wrong person with the wrong motivations. Either way, there's a lot people have to say about annuities, and most of it's not very good.
I could get out of this quickly and just say, well, negative opinions only come from people that don't understand annuities, and that's true. But I'm going to go into some detail and talk about why that's the case.
So when I'm looking for information, I don't just accept or deny a point of view.
I try to dig deeper into why does that person feel that way? Why does that person recommend this or that?
And I'm trying to be as fair as possible, give everyone the benefit of the doubT. Some don't deserve it, but everybody's going to get it to start till you prove that was a mistake on my part. It is not at all that negative opinions are wrong, just that a lot of times they do not tell the whole story. I really like it when somebody brings an objection to me that's viable rather than them just trusting an ill informed or alternatively, motive person. So someone who's just out for their own benefit may talk trash about the alternative.
There's a lot of self dealing in all areas of the world we live in.
Now, if the hours and hours upon hours of video and the volumes of articles I've written on every subject related to annuities, retirement planning, if that doesn't give me some credibility, then you probably don't care much for details. From the beginning, this information on the site has been exposed to scrutiny from all areas of consumers and the professional financial market. A lot of challenges to my claims have come and gone without a lot of effort on my part. Usually there's not a lot to them. You can pretty well rely on the accuracy of anything you read here. If there's a good challenge to my claim, it makes me better at what I do. It's possible. I'm not saying everything's perfect. It's possible somebody can find fault. But when I post an opinion, this is my opinion, I say it's my opinion. When I post a fact, I say this is a fact. So there's not a lot of wiggle room in there. And again, if it's my opinion, I'm just going to tell you that. But anytime if somebody finds a fault in something I say either a difference in opinion or if I state a fact incorrectly, it's never going to affect you in a bad way. A lot of cases that I work on, I say well, this is how it works. Well could you please confirm that for me? Sure. Rather than just say I know it works because that's not good enough for some people, I'll go out, find documentation for it and send it along. No, I'm not arrogant enough to say that I know everything and I do get all new information, new ideas all the time. To this point in my career, the negative comments about what I do come from a few specific areas that are easy to identify. We want to look at where they come from, what the motivation is, and what that negative comment is grounded in. Now, if I didn't truly believe in what I was doing, I would have another line of work that I would do for a living. This is something I would not do this if I didn't believe in it. And hopefully you'll see that reiterated through the explanations below. The number one place it comes from. Biased friends or family can come from any direction and for any reason. Now, trusted friends and family members are worth listening to because you get shared experiences, but that should not be the last word on it.
It's possible if they don't like annuities. It's because of a bad experience. Probably. Likely that's where it comes from with one in the past, if a second hand person said, oh, I heard something about this or that, it's kind of funny. People have done that a lot because, well, my friend said that this is bad. There is so much going on in the annuity market that I doubt that person, even if they've got one bad thing to say, can nail it down. Nothing applies to all different possibilities. Now, I support anybody who was done wrong in the past, but it does not cast a shadow over all products. And that goes for all negative comments from I don't even kind of ill of form, but it's not a negative thing. If someone knows a little bit, but not a lot. But a lot of people I've talked to rely on something they've read or heard that really is nothing more than just a little bit of gossip. Most cases, it's tunnel vision. They've only seen one thing, they've only heard one thing, and it's very unlikely they have a grasp of the entire annuity market. They cannot put it into context and explain that along with every viable alternative and how it compares. Listen to what they say because they probably care about you.
But consult an expert before you take anyone's advice. Big one is financial media. Journalists, authors and media personalities hold views confined to the topics they cover and are influenced heavily by their sponsors.
There is no other way around it. You cannot deny the bias. It happens in politics, science, medicine, and many other areas of our lives. We deal with it on a consistent basis.
So unfortunately, we cannot rely on what we read in newspapers, magazines, online, or what we see on the news. We all have to do additional research to form our own opinions. I'll be the first to say that you also should not take information on this website as the final word. Opinions from more angles will allow you to form your own opinion and make your own decisions. And that's what you got to do.
The next one is a big one. Not black and white, but fee only advisors have some strong opinions about this. Now, I know investment managers on both sides of the argument, some who like them, some who don't. Some of these guys like to brag about, oh, we don't collect commissions on products. Well, a fee actually comes out of your pocket, a commission doesn't. But again, there's a place for both. It's not one or the other, but there's also fee based annuities that are appropriate and a lot of these guys just don't ever use annuities because, oh, they've heard right. A lot of this comes from the fact that they were institutional. They worked in an institution before they went out and became an independent investment manager, or they started like an Edward Jones or a Merrill lynch who doesn't sell. I think Merrill lynch sells some annuities. Edward Jones doesn't sell any. And so that's where they learned. And once they become stable enough and learn enough to go out into their independent practice, you can guarantee they have no experience with annuities and have been taught to stay that way. Being independent from the beginning of my career allowed me to see all angles because I sat back at a young age and started doing this and could pick and choose and follow the path that I thought suited me best. You also have to think about strengths with people and positioning in the market. Some people want to position themselves as investments only.
I position myself as insurance products first because that's what I was good at. That's what I was doing. You also know that I've got a team of people who can do the investment management side. So I'm not saying all or nothing, one or the other. It's not a criticism of fee only advisors. They provide a valuable service. Most of them are just like insurance agents. Most of them don't even really know what they're doing or they're just taking orders from a sheet that the brokerage company sends out here. Tell people to do this. Just a reminder that if they don't have these products, then their advice is somewhat limited. Because at the very least, you have to have an understanding of the product so you can put it in the context and tell people why you don't recommend that anyone worth your time who advertises as a retirement specialist is guilty of malpractice if they disregard an entire industry created to benefit retired people. I mean, that's as close, as close to fact as anything I can think of. I've met a lot of them. Yeah, we don't do annuities. Why not? You don't do retirement plan. Yeah, we do a retirement planning. How can you do retirement planning without retirement products?
The last one's also a pretty big one. Unlicensed professionals. If someone you know that you take advice from does not hold a license that authorizes them to hand out financial advice, take it with a grain of salt. This is mostly relevant to bankers and CPAs. Lawyers could kind of are often in there and they're not educated, trained, or qualified to speak on those subjects. But they hand out their advice. You know what they say about opinions? Everyone's got one, and they all stink, right. Bankers limit advice to what's available through the bank that pays them. It is not going to include a full suite of asset classes and options.
Should I go into reminding everyone how much a bank makes when you put money into a savings account? Sure. They might be paying four and a half, 5%, five plus. Right now, they get to loan your dollar out ten times and make 7% on that. Ten times what you put in fractional reserve lending system. Back in 2008, financial crisis, the big banks that failed were 35 to one.
You put a buck in, they loan out 35. A lot of people like, oh, but it's FDIC insured, and they gave me a free Tupperware set. No, they're so nice. Talk about being taken advantage of, right? Bankers are there to benefit the bank, period. That comes first and foremost. You need someone who puts you first. Okay? Now, CPAs, highly educated, they're licensed to prepare tax returns. Some of the CPAs now are highly qualified specialty guys working high levels of finance bookkeeping for major corporations. I do not deny the qualifications or expertise as a whole. Not at all. But contrary to popular belief, CPAs are not your friend and only assist you in dutifully reporting yourself to the federal government every single year. Asset allocation, income distributions, and every other part of a solid retirement plan besides taxes, falls outside the scope of a CPA's education and training.
That's it. Friends and family might tell you what to do. You're going to read about it in the paper, see it on the news.
Everybody's going to give you their opinion. Nobody's going to back it up with facts. I want to show you every side of it and teach you how to look at some of these things. Now, some people are capable of doing it, and others are not. And then you got fee only advisors, the guys that are trying to get your money.
Where does their training come from and what formed their opinion?
The investment managers who like annuities or use annuities, have more of an open mind and maybe have spent more time in the business and realize, yes, there's a value here. And then bankers and CPAs and lawyers, it's not their wheelhouse. That's not what they do. So, anyway, no shortage of beliefs, opinions, or advice available for any topic you want to investigate. If you have a certain opinion on any of politics, I mean, you can go politics, you can go find someone who's going to verify your opinion and make you feel good about yourself. Oh, I was right.
It's one of the worst things about politics. So divided right does not mean it's wrong, but as things change, you need to explore differing viewpoints that will allow you to make a really solid opinion of something.
And it's kind of like going back to elementary school or junior high where it's explain it in your own words. When it comes to retirement and annuities, products, rates, and opportunities are always evolving. Everything's changing on a day to day basis. Listen to whoever you can read as much as possible. If you can find a good objections to the information I post, I would love if you share it. That kind of dialogue improves my service. It makes me better at what I do, and you're always helping someone else. This is a community where we're here to make people better, spread love, happiness, good information all over the place, and it's going to come back to you tenfold. But I'm here to tell you that stay informed and prosper. And you're worried for retirement you're going to get a lot of information out there. Make sure you know where it's coming from and why they feel that way. So this has been episode 112. People who don't like annuities my name is Brian Anderson. You want to talk to me, schedule a call. Top right corner of any page on Annuitystraketalk.com. Pick a time, type your name, phone number, tell me what you want to talk about. I'll give you a call, get on the calendar. And there we are. So again, please like this on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. Share it, comment. Tell me what you think. Give me ideas. Bring me objections. I would love to hear it. I've been doing this for a long time and I'm not afraid of anything at this point and I'll take it run. We'll figure it out. Okay? This has been Episode 112. I appreciate you joining me. You guys all have a great day and I'll see you next week with 113. Okay, bye.
[00:15:01] Speaker A: You have been listening to annuity stray talk.
The preceding information is for informational and educational purposes only and does not represent tax, legal, or investment advice.
The views expressed by guests on this program are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of annoyed straight talk or its partners.
No information presented today should be acted upon without meeting with a qualified and licensed professional.
It is important that you read all insurance contract disclosures carefully before making a purchase decision.
Guarantees are based on the financial strength and claims paying ability of the insurance company.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: You. It's.
